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Guide to Education Innovation
ISSN Print:2789-0732
ISSN Online:2789-0740
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Exploring the Pathways to Strengthening Vocational Identity among Higher Vocational College Students in Shenzhen
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Information:
School of Management, Shenzhen Polytechnic University, Shenzhen
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Keywords:
Vocational identity; Higher vocational colleges; Higher Vocational college students
- Abstract: With the advancement of vocational education, vocational colleges have come to constitute a significant portion of China’s higher education system. Ensuring the quality of higher vocational education must be centered on its primary stakeholders: higher vocational college students (“vocational students”). Currently, a pressing issue confronting the development of China’s vocational education is the public’s insufficient understanding of higher vocational education and the low level of identity recognition among vocational students, which severely hampers their academic engagement and personal growth — a matter that warrants serious attention. The identity predicaments faced by higher vocational students are primarily manifested in three dimensions: identity anxiety induced by stigmatizing labels, identity discrimination resulting from the devaluation of their academic credentials, and identity rigidity whereby social strata boundaries become increasingly impermeable. Among vocational college students, low collective self-identity and a loss of self-worth give rise to identity anxiety; restricted channels for upward mobility lead to the depreciation of individual meaning and value; and the credential society’s reinforcement of academic qualifications further entrenches stratification barriers and impedes social mobility.
- DOI: 10.35534/gei.0602022 (registering DOI)
- Cite: Xu, T. J., Zhang, X. M., & Yang, Y. F. (2026). Exploring the Pathways to Strengthening Vocational Identity among Higher Vocational College Students in Shenzhen. Guide to Education Innovation, 6(2), 239−247.
